Here is how it works- You check the bag, the TSA inspects the bag and finds a nice camera. The agent steals the valuables, but does not want you reporting the camera stolen, because it could lead to them being suspected. After all, that agent steals 10 valuable things each day. So after stealing your camera, the TSA agent removes or changes the ID tag on the bag, and switches the routing tag, so it will go on a random flight. Instant lost luggage.

"The UBC has sold a handful of lost diamond jewelry in its forty-plus-year history."

Wheras baggage handlers, the TSA and UBC employees have likely found armloads of "lost" jewelry...I'm rather unsurprised that out of hundreds of thousands of bags that the UBC has managed to only find and sell a handful of diamond jewelry out the front door.

Next time I fly (if ever), I'll take the clothes and such that I will need and FedEx/UPS it to my destination. That way I can get insurance and seal the box and not have to worry about TSA goons stealing it. It might cost more, but I know that my stuff will be there when I land.

Obviously this is a problem exclusive to TSA screeners and has never, ever happened with airline baggage handlers or private security. That the average annual number of mishandled baggage claims has gone from a mere 5.29 per 1,000 passengers in 2000, the year before TSA was created, to a whopping 3.22 per 1,000 in 2013 clearly shows how theft by TSA personnel must be the dominant cause of lost luggage.

Just ebay search something like Swiss Army Knife TSA and you will get listings of property being sold by TSA seizures. Most particular are listings where there's a large cache lot of objects being sold at once to rare or personalized objects sold.

Most of the comments have stated on how TSA are separate than the airlines what is written in the article. They are certainly not coming from Alabama facility. It's all over America.

I question the ethics of this due to the fact it's a profit for TSA or the individual(s) involved. In my view it's just legalized piracy.